Plot Summary: Tate Debs specializes in rescuing and deprogramming people from abusive groups with extreme beliefs — like the one Tate herself escaped, that believed in inter-dimensional travel and taboo ritual sex. When a femme named Vera, who may just be fatale, hires Tate to infiltrate a group of mystical hippies out in the desert, she must decide if Vera’ s charms are worth being re-traumatized. Soon, Tate must face her past out of devotion to the femme she may be falling for… and a single minded drive to avenge her family.

Review: In his essay, “The Simple Art of Murder” Raymond Chandler famously wrote:

“But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective in this kind of story must be such a man. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.”

In Deprog, a character says of Tate Debs, “Why send a good guy to do a leather dyke’s job.”

Their quip marks Deprog as, at least partly, a story that updates the detective story into the new century while also acknowledging that it’s part of the hardboiled detective tradition. Some of the familiar beats are here. Wrapping up a case to start the story. An office in a back room. A sexy femme with a story in need of help. Even ol’ Marlow might’ve flinched at walking into a party these characters throw.

Early on, Tate more than once says how much she believes in boundaries. She also talks about conflicts of interest. For a detective story like this, carrying on and advancing the Chandler tradition to the new century, boundaries could be seen as a code, a personal set of rules to live one’s life by. What’s interesting, especially on re-read, is how often Tate lets those boundaries be crossed, even if only a little. This too places Tate in the classic noirboiled detective tradition because the person most responsible for pressing their soft body up against her and purring in her ear to make an exception just this once is the sexy femme, Vera.

Vera shows up at the office in a back room of a video store like a dame in an old PI story. At one point Tate says to another character, “Why do I let femmes walk their stilettos all over me…”. Because that’s the noirboiled way!

Eventually the story makes its way out to the desert to infiltrate a cult with ties to Tate’s past that has reemerged. Here too we’re adding on to the LA crime story lineage of desert locales and sun soaked cults. The action picks up as truths come out and everything comes to a deadly resolution.

Deprog knows its detective fiction tropes and characters. It also knows how to tweak and update them for the modern moment. It’s a lot of fun and I would love to see more Tate Debs stories.

Rating: positive/highly recommended

Availability: Amazon|Kindle|Hoopla|Publisher

Pair with:

For the cult aspects I would pair Deprog with God is a Bullet by Boston Teran. I haven’t seen the film adaptation which has mixed reviews)

For the historical Chandler of it all plus cults I would pair Deprog with The Kept Girl by Kim Cooper

Finally, the best team-up story that hasn’t happened yet is a Tate Debs investigation crossing paths with a Butch Fatale case Butch Fatale, Dyke Dick: Double D Double Cross by Christa Faust